Aiming for the Stars

In the beginning of the game, the one an only thing that mattered was the attack point of the monsters. High points were pretty much everything back then. After that, monster effects mattered most. Low attack points could mean nothing if they had a huge effect. Then, what became most important was the creature itself: if one of them was a Tuner, it could mean a very powerful monster summoned from the Extra Deck.

Today, the main concern of almost every deck are the monster's levels. Equal levels and easy ways to bring them to the field means easier XYZ summons. Some decks focus in a certain range of level and try to gather monsters in that range. But it doesn't mean all the effort has to come from one single part of the game. Let's review a card that was mentioned before:

There are situations where an opponent's monster can speak itself for the whole purpose of this card instead of a XYZ summon with it. Black Luster Soldier, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, Naturia Synchros and some others are big threat enough to make your opponent negate this card instead of your next monster. But, depending on your and your opponent's decks, this card can benefit you better.

Although it's obvious how Wiseman's Chalice can work for almost every deck in mirror-matches, except, perhaps, Dark World, this spell has it's uses for many others. Inzektors can benefit from this as whatever you bring from his/her graveyard can be easily destroyed before the End Phase or, since almost every Inzektor changes the level, depending on which is being an equip, it can result in a very unexpected XYZ Summon.

Now, if you're playing Chaos Dragons, there's always a chance that your opponent has a powerful Dragon in the Graveyard, probably summoned from the Extra Deck (e.g.: Scrap Dragon, Stardust Dragon, Evolzar Laggia or Gaia Dragon the Thunder Charger). Except in most XYZ cases, you can make more profit with his/her dragons by banishing it for summoning Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, getting rid of one threat in the grave and not even making a Normal Summon. If you bring a high-rank XYZ, try overlaying it for Gaia Dragon.

If it's Elemental Heroes you're playing, pretty much anything you bring with this spell is just fine. As long you got Miracle Fusion or you can summon a E - HERO monster and got Super Polymerization, there are pretty much no worries with getting rid of the monster. After Escuridão is finally released, only DIVINE monsters won't be able to fuse, although there's high chance that whatever God monster you bring won't be a threat for you.

After discussing about a card that can benefit you, what about one that messes with your opponent?

Now, as the Extra Deck consecrated itself as the most valued part of the deck, as well XYZ monsters are taking the spotlights on it, the thing that has more meaning in these days is the monster's Level. Unlike when Synchros were popular, the backup plan when someone mess with an attempt to XYZ summon is not as good than a Synchro one. If one Level is changed or if any of the monsters is flipped face-down, there are few things your opponent can do instead of the planned, if he/she can, that is.

It can be annoying for some decks like Dino-Rabbit, that has to use a different XYZ monster than Laggia to not lose advantage or maybe lose both dinosaurs brought. Same thing with Tour Guide, most people don't have a Rank 2 monster , so the outcome of the turn is less troublesome. Even if you face a non-XYZ focused deck, this card can help. Obviously, there will be more backup plans in decks focused on Rituals or Synchro Monsters, but it's still useful.

This is one of the few non-monster cards that can be of good use if send to the graveyard. Even if you don't have a chance to activate it, you can still frustrate your opponent if you remove it from the graveyard. Or, by any chance, help your self to perform a XYZ Summon of an odd number Rank, those are quite rare in these days.

That's all for now. See'ya all next time and remember: Play with your brain, not with your money.